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"Teen Angle," Jessica Centers, July 3
Separation of Church and Straight
The word "evangelical" has some pretty nasty connotations in many corners: greedy, judgmental and, most of all, arrogant. In my experience, this is oftentimes well-deserved. But having lived with Greg Stier for a year in college, and having attended his church for a short time (my spiritual path led me elsewhere), I can tell you that he is what should be true about evangelicals and the Christian church as a whole. I don't agree with him on everything, but he is 100 percent sincere, and he wouldn't be doing what he is doing if he didn't not only love God, but also love strangers as much as himself. Isn't this the Christianity that was actually taught by Christ?
I can't help but think that if Ted Haggard's church practiced the same fundamentals, Ted might not have been kicked out of his church, but accepted for who he is.
James Scott
Denver
I made it through about four paragraphs of your article about Dare 2 Share and Greg Stier. I wish religoids of all shapes, sizes and beliefs would extend me the common courtesy to assume that I have heard of Jesus, Allah, etc. — and don't believe in them. They are all the same stories with a different book cover.
At the end of the day, do what works for you and leave everyone else alone to do what works for them. Nothing like reading about the great Christian mechanism of using extreme fear and guilt to get people to believe in the religion: You will burn in hell unless you believe this book. What a lovely and loving message to send.
Tom
Arvada
"Malice at the Palace," Alan Prendergast, June 26
Congrove's Grove of Cons
Jim Congrove is the exemplar of government malfeasance. Sadly, he is just the most recent in a parade of clowns who confuse service and power. To characterize this guy as a sleazeball would bestow a gracious, unearned reverence upon him.
Is it any shock that half-witted roaches breed and thrive in the corners of darkened government buildings? The lust for naked power compensates the underfed libidos of limp-dicked men and their catty cougar counterparts.
In government, where there is a paucity of wisdom, we get raw displays of power that so exceed the scope circumscribed by the office these dullards occupy that one would have to stretch credulity to comprehend. Those who are supposed to be servants end up arrogating usurped power where none exists.
Just as an untended garden fosters weeds that prey upon fertile ground, political fields must be continually cleared of undesirables who naturally take root in government. It is so safe an assumption that government attracts the crooked and mendacious that it is truly cliche.
Open meetings and freedom of information are sunlight to the honest and deadly light to the cockroaches like Congrove and Johnson et al. That these ill-bred, half-bright aging hacks, who have been on one public payroll or another their entire adult lives, can reign with "above-the-law" arrogance with apparent impunity is appalling. That they are currently too old to further pollute the gene pool with the spawn of their sullied loins is further relief to all who hope for a better humanity.
Until the morally upright possessors of greater brain power tire of being subjugated by lesser intellects, we will suffer the dregs of Congroves and Johnsons and Sheehans that are drawn as maggots to the fresh, un-watched carcass of government power and money. If they were to meet Congrove, Machiavelli would blush with embarrassment and Nixon would offer a filthy smirk of admiration.
One might more readily expect some subhuman form of fascist larvae gestating in Washington. But neither is it a surprise to find the slug trail emanating from the Jeffco Taj.
Mica Brian
Denver
